Some parents want to learn their babe'south sex ASAP. Others opt for surprise, choosing to await until baby'southward arrival to find out if they're welcoming a son or a daughter.

If you fall into the old camp, you'll probable wait forward to your eighteen-20 week ultrasound, the routine second trimester ultrasound, which is by and large when your OB/GYN is able to investigate and determine a baby'southward sex. Other parents find out baby'due south gender a little sooner through noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), which can be washed later week 9.

Of grade, you may as well be itching for information much before in your pregnancy, which is why the "ring gender test" — a superstitious method that has been passed down from generation to generation — sounds so intriguing.

What is the ring gender test?

The band gender examination is an old wives' tale that claims to decide the sex of a meaning adult female'southward babe. According to the believers in this test, the mode a ring that's attached to a piece of string moves when held over a mom-to-be'south belly tin indicate whether the babe she'south conveying is a boy or a girl.

How to exercise the ring gender examination

If you lot want to effort the band gender exam, all you lot need is a slice of thread fastened to a band (traditionally the expectant mom's wedding ceremony band) and another person to hold the thread for y'all.

  • Prevarication on your back and take another person dangle the thread over your baby bump, allowing information technology to move in whatever movement comes organically.
  • If the ring moves back and along like a pendulum: the baby is a boy.
  • If the ring moves in a circle: the baby is a girl.

Does the ring gender test really work?

Although some expectant parents swear the band gender test can provide on-point results, this is another gender prediction superstition that's just for fun doesn't have the science to back information technology upwardly.

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Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health actually did include the gender ring test in one 1999 study. Researchers asked 104 significant women to use any method they liked ("folk adages, dreams, hunches," and including the ring gender test) to guess the sex of their babies. The event: Moms guessed correctly 55 percent of the time, which the written report pointed out is "a charge per unit no better than mere guesswork could provide."

Predicting Your Baby's Gender

Meliorate alternatives to the ring gender exam

If you want to know your baby's sex prior to your second trimester ultrasound, there are several sex-prediction testing options. Over-the-counter gender prediction kits claim to have an accuracy rate of anywhere from fourscore to xc percent, but they cost anywhere from $forty for a urine-based examination to a few hundred for a blood-sample test and frequently raise more questions than answers.

There are two other testing options that are more formal and high-tech:

  • NIPT. As early every bit 9 weeks into your pregnancy, you can learn the sex of your babe through a simple blood test, noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT). Studies show it's more than than 99 per centum accurate at predicting a baby's sex, plus it offers a rundown of a infant's risk of certain chromosomal abnormalities including trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) and trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome). It's suggested for moms whose age or genetic history indicates there might be a risk of birth defects, and it's not invasive — meaning there'south no risk for you or your baby. If you're interested in having NIPT to observe out your baby'south take a chance of chromosomal abnormalities in addition to finding out his or her gender, talk to your doctor.
  • CVS and amnio. Both chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis are invasive diagnostic tests that analyze a baby's genetic makeup and screen for chromosomal abnormalities (between week ten and 13 of pregnancy for CVS and typically betwixt week 16 and 18 for amnio, though information technology can vary). Again, these tests are usually recommended for moms who are higher hazard, especially since they're invasive (which slightly elevates your take a chance of miscarriage). In other words, they're non designed for parents who are merely curious about their baby's gender. But if your practitioner recommends y'all accept 1 or the other (and you're itching to find out the sex of your infant-to-be), the results can tell you the baby's gender with 100 pct accuracy.

The bottom line: At that place'southward no harm in doing the ring gender exam. Later on all, enough of moms are drawn to it, if only for the amusement value. But for a more accurate answer, look for the results of your NIPT exam, 20-calendar week ultrasound, or CVS or amniocentesis test.